United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) Stock Price Up 6.5% – Should You Buy?

United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) shares were up 6.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $20.78 and last traded at $20.31. Approximately 3,660,342 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 13,589,542 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on UMC. Zacks Research upgraded United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of United Microelectronics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen raised United Microelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of United Microelectronics in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.60.

United Microelectronics Trading Up 3.1%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.60.

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter. United Microelectronics had a net margin of 33.18% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that United Microelectronics Corporation will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

United Microelectronics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were paid a $0.4122 dividend. This is an increase from United Microelectronics’s previous annual dividend of $0.37. This represents a dividend yield of 166.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. United Microelectronics’s payout ratio is 28.97%.

Institutional Trading of United Microelectronics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of United Microelectronics by 1,794.6% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 62,656 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 59,349 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in United Microelectronics by 10.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,655,721 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $40,438,000 after buying an additional 537,777 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in United Microelectronics by 25.8% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 6,028 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in United Microelectronics during the second quarter worth $108,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in United Microelectronics by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 6,793 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

United Microelectronics Company Profile

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) is a Taiwan-based semiconductor foundry that provides wafer fabrication and related manufacturing services to a global customer base. Founded in 1980, the company operates as a pure-play foundry, producing integrated circuits for a range of customers including fabless semiconductor companies and integrated device manufacturers. UMC is publicly listed (NYSE: UMC) and focuses on high-reliability manufacturing rather than branding consumer products.

UMC’s core services encompass wafer fabrication using a portfolio of process technologies, with particular emphasis on mature and specialty nodes that support analog, power-management, radio-frequency (RF), and mixed-signal applications.